The Show-Me State

The good news? We made it to Missouri! The bad news? Apparently the state is now closed. :-)

We're in Springfield, Missouri and it feels great to be almost done traveling. We arrived at about 3:00 this afternoon and will head out on our final leg tomorrow morning. Tonight, we're just relaxing in the hotel after doing some laundry, checking out the hotel pool, and walking next door to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. The girls are both asleep and Don is headed that way fast.

Yesterday we went to the Omniplex in Oklahoma City, as Don mentioned in an earlier post. We had fun - for the most part. There were a lot of neat exhibits and fun things to do. However, all the traveling is catching up to our Hannah-boo and she was not very fun. She had several melt-downs and the visit just wasn't what we envisioned it to be. One fun thing we did do, was to try building an arch like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We were successful!

There's a section of the Omniplex called "Gadget Trees." It's essentially a playground area with a teeter-totter, a tree house called "Newton's Clubhouse" and a 2-story tall structure called "Archimedes' Tower." Kids were using a pulley system to haul soft foam balls up to the top of the "tower" and other kids were retrieving them and using a small catapult to launch the balls off the top and down into a board with holes cut out of it (like a bean bag toss on steroids). Hannah wanted to throw some of the balls, so she and I began the trek up to the top of the tower. We wound around and around climbing stairs and finally reached the top. We waited in line and finally got our hands around some of the balls coming up in the buckets. I tried to lift her up to reach the catapult and she freaked out. She wanted to go back down and throw the balls from there. At that point, I just laughed and laughed. We had gone all the way up to the top to get balls when all she wanted was just to grab one another kid threw, stand next to the board, and throw balls in from there. Life is so much simpler when you're three! So we got two balls and rode a very long, very twisty slide down. I almost got stuck and got a friction burn on my knee and elbow for my trouble. But Hannah was happy to chase after foam balls and throw them in the holes. The things we do for our kids!

Later, she said her favorite part was the slide, so that was good. She also enjoyed running around aimlessly on some gymnastic mats, painting her face with crayons, and playing with a sound machine that used foam spheres (like from a bean bag chair) to make sound waves visible (very cool machine).

Don wanted me to be sure and mention how pretty it is out here. Everything is so green and while we were driving, all we could see was rolling green hills and tons of trees.
Don says that this is some of his favorite scenery and he really enjoyed the drive. Most likely, tomorrow will be more of the same. About 210 miles to go - and then we'll never feel like getting in the car again.

Two good things to look forward to this week - the rain is supposed to stop for Monday through Wednesday (so our prime moving-in days will be dry) and Grammies (Don's mom) and maybe "Uncle Dan" (Don's oldest brother) will be here from Monday through Friday. It will be great to see them, have some help with the girls and the unpacking, and get to show them around St. Louis. If it's not raining we'll probably head to the waterfront (the Mississippi River near the Arch) for the 4th of July festivities and fireworks. Bonus: the 4th of July is Hannah's baptism birthday and also Elizabeth's 3-month birthday. How time does fly!

We miss everyone and thank you for all your prayers - our trip has been surprisingly smooth and uneventful. God's blessings to all our loved ones - we couldn't do this without your support.

With love,
--Stacye, Don, Hannah, & Elizabeth